[Ncep.list.grouptravel] Time and Attendance Guidance for GOES-R Launch

Thu Nov 10 20:04:07 UTC 2016

FYI, please share this with staff who may be attending the GOES-R launch
either in an official capacity or in a personal capacity.

Genene

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: George Jungbluth - NOAA Federal <george.jungbluth at noaa.gov>
Date: Thu, Nov 10, 2016 at 2:56 PM
Subject: Fwd: Time and Attendance Guidance for GOES-R Launch
To: _NWS OCOS <nws.ocos at noaa.gov>, _NWS XOs <nws.xos at noaa.gov>, _NWS
Regional Deputy Directors <nws.regional.deputy.directors at noaa.gov>, _NWS
Regional Directors <nws.regional.directors at noaa.gov>, Bill Lapenta <
bill.lapenta at noaa.gov>, David Murray <David.Murray at noaa.gov>, Kenneth Brown
<kenneth.i.brown at noaa.gov>, Joseph Pica <joseph.a.pica at noaa.gov>, Benjie
Spencer <benjie.Spencer at noaa.gov>, John Murphy <john.d.murphy at noaa.gov>,
Kevin Cooley - NOAA Federal <kevin.cooley at noaa.gov>, Andrew Stern - NOAA
Federal <andrew.stern at noaa.gov>, Louis Uccellini <Louis.Uccellini at noaa.gov>,
Laura Furgione <laura.furgione at noaa.gov>
Cc: NWS Group Travel Conference - NOAA Service Account <
nws.group.travel.conference at noaa.gov>

Colleagues,

Please see copied below WFMO guidance on timekeeping for participating in
or attending a NESDIS satellite launch. Attached is also an FAQ on this
subject. Please distribute as necessary to your staff who may be attending
the GOES-R launch either in an official capacity or in a personal capacity.

George

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Todd Harding - NOAA Federal <todd.harding at noaa.gov>
Date: Thu, Nov 10, 2016 at 11:21 AM
Subject: Time and Attendance Guidance for GOES-R Launch
To: Michael Stringer - NOAA Federal <michael.stringer at noaa.gov>, Greg Mandt
<greg.mandt at noaa.gov>, Mark Paese <mark.paese at noaa.gov>, Stephen Volz -
NOAA Federal <stephen.m.volz at noaa.gov>, Renata Lana - NOAA Federal <
renata.lana at noaa.gov>, Lauren Gaches - NOAA Federal <lauren.gaches at noaa.gov>,
Kimberly Hurst <kimberly.hurst at noaa.gov>, Kelly Turner <
kelly.turner at noaa.gov>, Troy Wilds <troy.wilds at noaa.gov>, Alex Lamers -
NOAA Federal <alex.lamers at noaa.gov>, Erika Brown <erika.brown at noaa.gov>,
Sid Boukabara - NOAA Federal <sid.boukabara at noaa.gov>, Daniel Karlson <
daniel.karlson at noaa.gov>, John Leslie <john.leslie at noaa.gov>, Connie
Barclay - NOAA Federal <connie.barclay at noaa.gov>, Kate Becker <
kate.becker at noaa.gov>, Mara Browne <mara.browne at noaa.gov>, George Jungbluth
- NOAA Federal <george.jungbluth at noaa.gov>, Joseph Kolesnick - NOAA Federal
<joseph.kolesnick at noaa.gov>, Charlie Powell <charles.powell at noaa.gov>,
Sierra Jones <sierra.jones at noaa.gov>, Janice Sessing <
janice.sessing at noaa.gov>, Cherish Johnson <cherish.johnson at noaa.gov>

Please see the WFMO provided time and attendance guidance for GOES-R launch.

In regards to employees who will be performing work duties, such as those
who will be assisting in running the events, they are entitled to be
compensated for their time spent preparing for, and executing, the event.
This includes any time they are "engaged to be waiting" should the launch
be delayed for a short time and they end up waiting for a while with no
work to be performed.

Those that *choose *to attend the event but who are not performing any
work, are not entitled to any compensation.

Management may request "volunteers" to help run the event; however, these
employees are merely volunteering to perform work that management has
already determined to be operationally necessary, they are not donating
their time and effort. In the absence of sufficient "volunteers,"
management would be required to direct employees to perform the work;
therefore, these "volunteers" are to be compensated for their work time.

Once all of the required work has been assigned to employees, any employee
who chooses to attend the event should not be allowed to perform work
unless management has determined it to be necessary, approves the employee
to perform the work, and intends to compensates them accordingly.

The form of compensation will be dependent upon whether the employee is
FLSA Exempt or non-Exempt and whether they work a fixed or flexible
schedule.

For those on fixed schedules (including compressed schedules) Overtime or
Compensatory Time Off may be offered. Exempt employees on fixed schedules
are entitled to Compensatory Time Off and maybe offered Overtime at their
normal Overtime rate if management chooses to make this offer. The option
for Overtime should be provided equitably such that it is not offered on an
individual basis but rather to groups of similarly situated employees based
on justify Overtime at their regular rate.

Those on flexible schedules (maxiflex, variweek) may arrange their schedule
such that they don't work the corresponding hours during the rest of the
week/pay period or they may earn credit time.

Given that there is sufficient time between now and the event, it is
possible for managers/supervisors to change their employee's work schedule
for that week or pay period to allow them the flexibility to work the event
without worrying about premium pay caps. They can either be placed on
flexible schedules or have their fixed schedules modified to include work
on that Saturday.

Note that while there is authority under the law to waive the bi-weekly
premium pay caps, such authority rests with the Undersecretary and has only
be re-delegated when the circumstances stem from an emergency; otherwise,
the Undersecretary must determine that the work performed in critical to
the NOAA mission. I do not believe these events qualify for such waiver and
do not suggest that you pursue a waiver request.

It is also important to note that should a manager instruct a member of
their staff to attend the event, attendance no longer becomes voluntary and
they must be compensated for the time they spend at the event.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Todd K. Harding
Deputy Chief of Staff
NOAA Satellite and Information Service
office: 301.713.0102
cell: 301.233.8469
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- 
-- 
______________________
George Jungbluth
Chief of Staff
National Weather Service
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Mob: 240-338-9005
(Email)  George.Jungbluth at noaa.gov
1325 East West Highway
Suite 18236
Silver Spring MD 20910
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.lstsrv.ncep.noaa.gov/pipermail/ncep.list.grouptravel/attachments/20161110/b0323efb/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Federal Employee Compensation Non Work Hours.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 17015 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : https://www.lstsrv.ncep.noaa.gov/pipermail/ncep.list.grouptravel/attachments/20161110/b0323efb/attachment-0001.bin 